Heart and Soul
by Girl from the World that Ended
Summary: 'A spark. A spark that started an electrical current, around a complicated network of wires and back where it started in a millisecond, then to start again on another cycle. At that moment, I opened my eyes.' Based on Rin's 'Kokoro' (and later on Len's 'Kokoro Kiseki' as well). Maybe some RinxLen in later chapters. Rated K plus for now, but may change later if needed.
1. Chapter 1: The First Miracle

**Hi all ^^**

**Well, this is the first chapter of my first fanfic, based on Kagamine Rin's 'Kokoro', and there may be some parts later from Len's 'Kokoro Kiseki'. I didn't want to actually call the story 'Kokoro' because I thought that people whould think something like, "Oh, look, it's just another re-telling of a song.", but it isn't, and it's in more detail, and there's more story to it (planned).**

**Even so, like I said, this is my first, so tell me if it's good or not. But try not to be too mean...? :3 **

**Hope you enjoy! Can't wait for you replies :P**

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A spark.

A spark that started an electrical current, around a complicated network of wires and back where it started in a millisecond, then to start again on another cycle.

At that moment, I opened my eyes.

A man stood before me, looking at me with teal-coloured eyes. When he saw my eyes open, his expression changed. I understand that it is called a 'smile'.

"Good morning," said the man.

"Good morning," I replied. My voice was a girl's voice; high, clear, sweet.

He smiled again. "Do you know who I am?"

"You are my professor," I told him.

"Are all systems running properly?"

"No problems."

The professor's expression changed again. This one is a mix of emotions. I looked closer, analysing it. Joy. Joy and relief.

"Good," he said, stepping closer, "then I will call you Rin."

He then closed the distance and wrapped his arms around me. I was not familiar with such contact, but my programming told me it was called an embrace. The professor held me tight and put one hand on my hair. His breathing was shaky. When he stepped back his eyes were slightly watery, but his smile had grown. He exhaled.

"Alrighty then. Let's get you unplugged."

I had not noticed the wires protruding from my head and running up to the ceiling until he was pulling them out of... Where the ears should be. When he was done I reached up to feel what was there. A small box with indentations (presumably for inserting wires) was there, instead of an ear. I had one on each side of my head and something that ran over the top, connecting them. I understand that it was cleverly designed to look like headphones. Then, something yellow and wispy fell over my eyes.

"What is it?" I say, and the professor looked at me blankly for a moment, then understood what I was saying.

"Oh, yes," he muttered, as if remembering something. He turned away to go to a desk and picked up some things on it. "That's your hair," he said as he walked back, "and I have some things for it here..."

He slid a couple of silver clips into my fringe and the hair at the other side of my face, and took a white ribbon and tied it around my head, making a bow at the top.

The professor took a deep breath. "It's perfect," he said, then smiled and embraced me again. I noticed that his hair was the same colour, and was pulled back into a ponytail, and the bits at the front that weren't quite long enough stuck out in every direction. After a while, he pulled away, eyes closed. "Now, I can rest..." he said quietly. He walked back to the desk and fell into the chair in front of it.

As he sat there, I could take a good look at my surroundings. I was standing in the middle of a white room, wires covering the walls, ceiling, and some of the floor. There was the desk that the professor sat at, on top of which were two keyboards, a mouse and various complicated electrical components and some important-looking papers. The wall in front of it had two computer screens. From what I could see, one was off, and the other meticulously measuring some kind of data. There two other tables in the room. One was cluttered with what I understood to be equipment for scientific experiments, while the other was covered with papers. The room as a whole was actually quite small, with one barred window and one door.

I looked down at myself. The clothes I was wearing were quite simple. White tank top with a black sailor collar, yellow bow for a tie, black sleeves, black shorts with a yellow and orange belt, baggy grey socks, white shoes. I registered a definite pattern in the colour scheme.

The professor was still sitting in his chair, eyes closed and head lolled back. He had been sat like that for a while now. I took a step forward and stumbled, but steadied myself and kept going until I reached the professor. When I did, I put my face close to his.

As if sensing a presence, he opened his eyes, and jumped when he saw me so close.

"What are you doing, Rin?" he asked, smiling slightly.

"How do you stay still like that for so long? Why?" I said.

He smiled again, but it wasn't the same smile as before. It didn't reach his eyes. I then noticed something I hadn't before. There were dark circles beneath his eyes. I stood straight.

"Expression unknown. Why are your eyes dark?"

"I'm exhausted, Rin," he said, and leant his head back again.

I closed my eyes to check through my hard drive for the meaning of 'exhausted'. When I found none, I opened my eyes again.

"'Exhausted': definition unknown."

The professor opened one eye to look at me. "I'm very very tired," he explained. I cocked my head, unable to understand. He sighed and turned to his desk. At the press of a button the unused screen flickered on, and the professor typed something in. After a few seconds of searching, he leaned closer to the screen.

"Exhaust, verb. 1, make someone very tired. 2, use up something completely," he read. "Sounds about right." He turned to me. "I've used up my energy, and brain power, too, I guess, completely, so I am in need of rest. Do you understand?"

I closed my eyes, then, after a few seconds, I opened them again. "Definition confirmed. I understand," I said, then added, "Why are you exhausted?"

The professor turned his head towards the screens, not looking at anything in particular. "I've been up for such a long time, planning and finishing my most important project. I started planning years ago, but it's taken a long time. I've been up longer and more often over the past few months, and even more so over the past few weeks, but I'm done now. I can rest. I can't even remember the last time I slept." He closed his eyes.

"What was your project?"

He sat up straight once more, and looked at me. He was smiling again, his proper smile. "It was you, Rinny."

I looked at him. I did not know how to respond.

"The planning on its own took a while, and the funding... Well, I needn't go that far, but I was severely running out of money for components and materials. Then the making... Well, that was difficult. So many complicated procedures and I'm sure I went wrong several times, but now... I'm finished. There wasn't even a guarantee that you would work, or turn out as I'd wanted, or even that you would be finished before I was too old to spend any time with you. All in all," he said, putting his hand on top of my head, "everything about you, how you're working, and working well, too, and that you're here now... There's only one thing to describe how it was done. It's a miracle. You're a miracle, Rin."

I looked at him, then tried to look at his hand on my head. It was not easy, and I ended up going cross-eyed. My eyes going in directions they weren't supposed to caused a spark and a small snapping sensation between them. I screwed my eyes up and shook my head to correct whatever had changed. The professor laughed. When I looked at him, he was smiling more. I analysed the expression. Pure joy and happiness. From what I knew, happiness was good. Something in my programming told me that I should smile back, so I did. The professor saw and tousled my hair slightly, unsettling my bow. His smile had changed once more. It seemed... sadder, now.

Then I remembered something from a little earlier. "Walking is not easy," I told him.

He nodded. "That's just because you're not quite used to it yet. The more you try, the easier it'll get."

"Okay."

He looked at the screen to check the time.

2:47 am.

The professor sighed.

"Tell you what," he said, stifling a yawn, "You can test out your legs for a while and explore the lab and some of the other rooms, while I get some sleep. Just don't touch any of the equipment, okay?"

I nodded. After pressing another button, the screen we were using turned off. The other continued to whir and collect data. He stood, and embraced me once more. He walked to the door, but stopped before he walked out, and turned to look at me.

"Goodnight, Rin."

"Goodnight, Professor."

He just stood there for a moment, then smiled that sad smile, and walked out. I stood alone in his lab, with only the sound of whirring and beeping coming from the data-collecting screen. I didn't hear him speak to anyone else. I walked to the door, and saw room that had a kitchen and what seemed to be a living room, but the sofa had been converted into a bed. There was no one else here.

And with that, reviewed all that I knew so far:

I was a robot

made by a lonely scientist,

to say how it was done?

"Miracle."

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**Any good so far? I asked my friend to read it for me and she said it was good, but what do you all think?**

**I DO NOT OWN VOCALOID (thought a disclaimer was needed here)**

**I did take some speech from one of the videos for Kokoro (their first conversation, up until "Your name will be"), so it is not mine and, well, yeah XD**

**Not quite sure what to say now... so I'll just leave it at that! I'll try to do chapter 2 soon but I have exams and stuff coming up... even so, I'll see what I can do.**

**Until then, Happy reading ^^**


	2. Chapter 2: The Professor and Me

**Hiya! Me again ^^**

**So here's chapter 2. Sorry it took a while, but I had a bit of trouble thinking up things that should happen. But it's done now :P. Still not much story to it yet, I know, but it's just because it gets off to a slow start I guess… but anyway, I still hope you like it :3**

**Just so you know, I get Rin's definitions from the internet, so I am not responsible for them. **

**Oh yes, and I only recently added the image. Just going to say I DO own that, so no copying. It's also on deviantART for those of you who have accounts on that.**

**Not quite sure what else to say now… so, errr, enjoy! ^^**

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There was a girl, stuck in glass. Blonde hair, teal eyes, blank expression. When I moved, so did she.

"What is it?" I asked, and the professor looked into the bathroom where I stood.

"That's a mirror," he replied.

I close my eyes and searched.

"Definition found," I said, opening my eyes again. "Mirror, noun. A reflective surface, glass coated with a metal layer that reflects a clear image." I looked at the mirror again. So that's what one actually looks like. A white frame, holding a piece of glass that reflected everything in view, hanging on the wall I had not really had a good look at myself before, so I took this moment to. From my analysis, I looked about twelve, with shoulder-length blonde hair and pale skin. I was not that tall, but not terribly short either. Probably how some would describe as 'pretty'. Looking closer, I noticed that I somewhat resembled the professor. I turned round to look at him, to confirm my observation, but he had already left.

I walked out of the white-and-blue bathroom and stood in the living room. It was quite dirty. There was dust on the bookshelves that went up in a cloud when I blew on it. The books there were not old, but they looked like they had not been picked up in a while. I looked over at the professor, who was sitting on the sofa. The coffee table in front of him and some of the floor surrounding was littered with take-away food boxes for pizza, Chinese, and other various food types. I bent down to look into a Chinese take-away box and poked it. From inside I heard a rattle of a dry piece of leftover noodle, and a soft buzz. When I opened it, a fly flew out.

"It's very untidy in here," I said.

The professor chuckled, although I did not detect humour behind it. "Yeah, it is," he replied with a sigh. With that, he stood up again and started to collect the rubbish. I picked up the box that I had investigated moments earlier and followed the professor to the bin. I dropped the box in and he looked at me.

"You're going to help?" he asked.

I nodded once and went back to collect more boxes. After a few minutes, all the take-away boxes were gone. The bin was overflowing. But despite all the big pieces of rubbish gone, the apartment was still covered in dirt. I helped the professor to Hoover, dust and scrub the room clean. It took a while, but we finished before evening.

We stood together at the door of the apartment, looking at the large improvement. The professor sighed, and then turned to me. He pulled me into a hug.

"Thank you for helping me with this, Rin." I looked at him as he pulled me away, and I noticed that he was still very tired. I come up with a conclusion; he was still recovering from the work he had done, and he wouldn't have been able to tidy the room on his own.

"It was no problem, Professor," I said, "but you need to rest."

He nodded and sat back on the sofa. I went into the lab. I looked at the place I stood until three days ago, and thought to myself, people seem to need a lot of time to recover from exhaustion. After the professor had gone off to bed on that first night, I hadn't done much. I had only stood there and watched the data screen tick and measure whatever it was measuring. When the professor came back the next day, he had told me that there were still some things to do before I was fully complete, but he hadn't wanted to address them while he was too exhausted.

So, over the last few days, I learned more about myself, and the world around me. I learned that the professor had made me as close to a living human as he could, and the things that he had done should have been impossible. I was made up of a structure of 'bones' made from metal, with components that acted as tendons and muscles, and a softer layer to resemble skin. I was given a 'mind' of my own, which allowed me to think and learn for myself. My main electrical supply was in the same place as where the heart should be, and complicated circuitry that replicated arteries and veins. Somehow, the professor had altered some of my components so that they required air to work, so I could even breathe like a normal human. He had even gone to the extent of placing sensitive receptors beneath my 'skin', so I could feel texture and temperature.

Everything that he had done was to make me as close to human as possible. He wanted me to be able to experience life like a person does. I do not know his reasons. But I do know that he wanted me to also learn how to be a human. However, I am not human. I cannot live.

I had also used his computer to find definitions for words that were not already written in my programming, and I managed to learn a lot. It took a long time, but for now, I knew as much as I need to. I could still learn other things as I went, but the most important things I learned at that time.

Suddenly there was noise coming from the front room. I went back in to see what it was. The professor lay on the sofa, eyes closed, seeming relaxed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Music," he replied without even opening is eyes. I stood and listened. Music was one of the things I had learned about the day before, but at the time I hadn't actually heard any. This particular song was sung by a female with a sweet voice, and the song had a nice melody. The lyrics seemed nice too. I let everything about the song etch itself into my memory, so I could remember it for another time.

It was starting to get dark outside, so the professor ordered another take-away, just because he was far too exhausted to make food himself. The food arrived in half an hour and the professor ate in front of his television. I sat next to him as I watched what was showing. It was a reality TV program, and from it I learned something new; some people do very strange things. I took one look at the professor and realised that he was not actually paying attention to it, but he just needed something mindless to watch.

When he finished the take-away, I took the box for him and threw it away. The bin looked in danger of toppling over.

The professor still looked too tired to even move. I told him this, and he said that the lack of sleep had probably made him ill.

"Ill? What is it?" I ask.

"Check on the computer," he told me, not bothering to explain by himself, or even to open his eyes.

I did as I was told and went into his lab. The screen whirred slightly as I turned it on. After a few clicks I found a definition. "Not in full health; sick," I read aloud. I closed my eyes for a moment to save the definition.

It seems that people are more complicated than I had thought.

When I went back into the living room, the professor was speaking into some kind of device. After a few moments, he put it down, and turned to me.

"Rin, I've just called a taxi, okay?" When he saw the blank look on my face, he added, "Transportation. I'm going to the hospital for a while." Hospital. I knew what that was. "I'd told you that I was ill, and I think I should see someone about it."

I nodded. The professor walked around his apartment and collected a few things, putting them into a bag. As he went, he kept talking to me.

"I don't know how long I'll be there. It won't be too long, but even so..."

It was about then that there was a noise from outside. A car's horn. The professor looked out the front window into the dark street, and exhaled. Then he pulled me into an embrace.

"I'll be back soon," he told me, then pulled back, his hands on my shoulders. He looked right into my eyes. "Rin," he said. "No matter what, do not open the door to anyone. And don't go outside on your own. Do you understand?"

I nodded my confirmation, and he gently kissed my forehead. I waved as he turned and walked out the door, closing it behind him. I heard the lock _click_. I was alone now. I was the only one in the entire building. This used to be a block of flats, and a lot of people had lived here, but now it was just the professor. The professor and me. And for a while, just me. Alone in a third-floor three-room apartment, with no landlord or landlady, in an isolated part of town. I didn't know why he chose to live here, like this.

The professor was ill, but I knew that he would be fine. For now, all I had to do now was wait for him to come home. I could find meaningful ways to pass the time if I had to. I could use his computer to learn. Here was so much I still needed to learn.

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**So! That's chapter 2 done! Thoughts?**

**I'll write replies to people's reviews here :P**

**0o Ri-chan o0 : Thank you :3 Yes, this is my first, but I do plan on writing others in the future. I'm focussing mostly on this one for now, though :3**

**Thank you to everyone who's been reading so far ^^**

**I'll try to write when I can, but I still have exams, and it may take a while, but I don't know.**

**Lots of thanks to my best friend who helped me come up with ideas for his chapter (and some later ones too) 3**

**TTFN :3**


	3. Chapter 3: Discovering New Things

**Hiya :3**

**I'm back! A _lot_ quicker this time as well XD**

**Again, thanks to my friend who helped me with ideas. The story is moving on slightly, too. YAY ^^**

**Well anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter 3!**

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Now, all I needed to do was entertain myself. I decided to look around the apartment for something to do. The professor had told me that if you do nothing for a long time, you can get bored, and that is not good. I didn't understand it really, but I did it anyway.

I went over to the book case to see what sort of books the professor had. It seemed as though he had sorted them into different shelves, depending on the genre. The bottom shelf was full of manuals, reference books and a handful of cooking books. The second shelf contained science-related books, most likely for his researching. The top two shelves were for fiction.

In my mind, I told myself that I needed to know more about fiction. I had learned from the computer the day before that fictional books require imagination, and can develop it. I did not know whether imagination was important or not. Even so, I looked at these titles. Some of them were very strange.

"Deep-Sea Girl, Cantarella, A Tale of Six Trillion Years and one Night..." I read aloud.

I then came across a series of books. I read the blurbs on the back of each, and it looked as if each told the same story but from different points of view, although some of these points of view were spread over two or three books. There were a lot of them. 'Daughter of Evil' was the first. I picked that one up and decided to read it.

When I got to about halfway through them book, I stopped for a moment to rest my eyes. I looked at the clock. The professor had been gone for five hours now. I took a deep breath, just to keep my machinery functioning at the right pace, and carried on reading. Once I was finished, I moved onto book two. By the time I was done with 'Servant of Evil', it was light outside. I put the book back and walked around the room a bit to make sure my legs still worked.

At that moment, a strange noise filled the apartment. I looked round to locate it. The source of the trilling was sitting on the small table at the end of the sofa.

"What is it?" I ask, but without the professor here to answer, I though I might never find out.

Suddenly the noise stopped, leaving behind only a strange buzzing noise. I picked up the device from its little cradle, then put it back. Just like that, the noise stopped. Once again, the apartment was quiet.

I stared at it for a while, but nothing else happened, so I went back to the book case.

I was considering picking up the next book, but there was so much about the story so far that I did not understand. I did not know that emotions could be so strong that they could lead a person to destroy a country. I didn't even understand how that was possible. I decided that emotions sounded very dangerous. I also did not understand that someone had to 'die'. How could it solve anything? Why did people like it? Why would someone offer to die in someone else's place? I wasn't even completely sure what it was.

I then noticed another book that I hadn't before. It was a thin book, a lot thinner than all the rest, but taller, too. I pulled it out. On the front was a picture of a blue-haired girl and a white bird. The title read, 'Hato'. The back didn't actually say much about the story, but there were quotes from newspapers and other authors.

'_Such a sweet story._'

'_Best children's book I know._'

I opened the front cover and looked at the first page. It had the title again, and the author, and another picture if the white bird, which was on its own this time. There was something else there too. It was not originally part of the book. In a neat hand, someone had written, "Happy birthday sweetheart xxx". I did not know what this meant. Flicking through the book, I noticed that it consisted of mostly pictures, and the words were all in a large font. I did not understand why the professor had a book like this. Maybe he had it when he was younger, and kept it for all these years.

Suddenly the shrill noise started again. I didn't expect it, so it made me drop the book on the floor. I looked at the book on the floor for a moment, then went and stood in front of the source of the noise again. After a few minutes, it stopped, leaving the same low hum it had before. I picked it up and put it down again. The noise stopped again.

I was unsure of what to do next, so I went into the professor's lab and turned on the screen. I searched for music. From what I knew, music was good, so I wanted to know more. I spent hours and hours looking through all different kinds of it. I listened to them. Some were peaceful. Some were about love. Some were inspiring. There were even a few that had stories behind them, like a world ruled by vampires. I wanted to be able to sing like that. The only thing was, I didn't know how. After a few moments, I found a video on the internet, and it showed girl on a stage, singing to thousands of people. I watched her carefully. After seeing that, I tried to sing to myself. At first, the noises that left my mouth sounded strange, but the further I got into the song, the better it sounded. I ended up singing the whole song a few times more. After about the fifth time round, I stopped. It was getting late, and the light outside had long since faded. My gaze wandered over to the other tables in the lab. I just stared at them. How long I did that for, I do not know. I was vaguely aware of the world outside the window grow bright again.

The noise from yesterday started again. I walked (slightly unsteadily after doing nothing all night) back into the living room to stare at the object once again. My conclusion was that if I stared at it for long enough, it would stop. However, when the noise did stop, there was absolute silence for a while, before something else happened. I heard a voice.

"_Hello. This is the city hospital. Sorry if we have missed you."_

The strange voice was then cut off by another, less clear voice.

"_Sir, could you stay in your bed, please?"_

"_Could I talk to her?" _

"_Sir, you should stay in bed until we have officially discharged you-"_

"_Please?"_

There was a bit of noise and then the voice I heard next was a lot clearer. "_Hey, Rin. It's me."_

"Professor?" I said, confused. How did he get there?

"_Rin, can you pick up the phone? I want to talk to you."_

"_Sir, she might be out-"_

"_No, she's not out."_

"Professor," I repeated, in the hope that he would respond this time.

"_Rin, I can't talk to you until you pick up. Can you do that?"_

I nodded slowly and reached for the device. When I picked it up, the noises suddenly got a lot quieter.

"_Now, put it to you ear, Rin."_ The professor's voice seemed to come from far away. I put the device to my ear. "Professor?" I said a third time.

"_Hello, Rin."_ His voice sounded warm.

"What is it?" I asked.

"_It's called a telephone,"_ the professor replied. "_You use it to talk to people who are far away."_

I nodded.

"_I'm going to come home, Rin. The doctors have let me leave the hospital. I have to take medication, but I'll be fine. I won't be long. I just wanted to let you know in advance."_

"_Maybe she should come and collect you-?"_

"_I'll be quite fine getting home on my own,"_ The professor said to the other voice, and then to me, "_See you in a bit, Rin."_

Then the line went dead.

The professor was coming home. He wasn't too ill. He would get better soon. I looked to the lab and thought. Maybe I could sing for him. I put the telephone back and waited.

Like he promised, the professor did not take long to return. I heard his footsteps on that stairs outside the door before he even reached the door. The unlocked the door, walked in and smiled warmly at me. He looked better. Not fully recovered, but better. He dropped his overnight bag on the floor and hugged me.

"Welcome home, Professor."

"I'm home, Rin."

He smiled at me and closed the door. While he unpacked his things, I rummaged through the other bag that he had brought home with him. It was full of food.

"What is the food for?"

"I decided to make my own dinner tonight. I'm tired of take-aways," the professor replied, smiling and rolling his eyes.

"How do you make dinner? Can I help? Is it difficult?"

His smile widened. "Of course you can help. I'll show you how."

He led me over to the small kitchen area and put the bag of food on the counter. He showed me how to boil water for pasta, and he poured a small pot of tomato sauce into a bowl to heat up. His dinner was quite simple, but he looked happy. It must be good for him to eat something that was home-cooked. He had the same look on his face as he did when I helped him clean the apartment. He sat on the sofa while he ate, but this time he didn't turn on the television. He talked to me instead. He asked what I did while he was away. I told him about the Story of Evil series, and even though he had probably read them already, he asked what it was about. So, I told him the story, but shorter, of course.

He had just finished his dinner and I was halfway through the Servant of Evil when he noticed the Hato book, which was still lying open, face down on the floor.

"What's that doing there?" he asked, quickly going over to pick it up.

"After Servant of Evil, I looked at the Hato book, and the telephone made a strange noise. I didn't expect the noise, so it made me drop the book. Was that bad?" I asked.

He looked troubled, but said, "No. It's not bad." He looked at the first page, and his expression changed. He was silent for a few moments, but after a while he muttered, "The page's creased…" and ran his thumb over it. Then he slid it back onto the shelf. "It wasn't bad, Rin, just… you should pick things up when you drop them."

I nodded. "I understand, Professor. I will in the future."

He nodded too, distracted. Without saying anything else, he walked into the bathroom to get ready for bed. It was still day-time, but the doctors had told him to rest as much as possible. I waited a few moments, but he didn't come out for a while, so I wandered into the lab and sat in the spot where I first stood only a few days ago. I thought that maybe I should rest too. I didn't know how, but I tried by closing my eyes and letting my mind drift. I wasn't focussing on anything in particular. It was almost as if I had gone into standby mode.

I needed to conserve energy, so I didn't use it all up in a short space of time.

Out of the door, I heard the professor moving about, getting comfortable. When it went silent again, I said, "Sleep well, Professor."

At first, I thought he wasn't going to reply. Then I thought that he was already asleep. But after a few moments, I heard him speak softly. He didn't sound as troubled now. He was more relaxed.

"You too, Rin. Rest well."

I kept my eyes closed. He didn't say much now, but I knew that he had wanted to say something else. Maybe he wanted to tell me that we could talk more once he had woken up.

Talking to him was good. He seemed happy whenever we talked together, and happy is good.

I could wait until he woke up so that I could tell him more. I could sing for him.

He will like it, I thought. I will sing for him, soon.

* * *

**So, there you go!**

**I do not own Vocaloid, or any of the other songs (the books) mentioned in this chapter.**

**Also, there actually IS a band that bases their songs in a world ruled by vampires, so I can't be held responsible for them .**

**Thank you to everyone who has been reading so far!**


	4. Chapter 4: My First Gift

**Heyyo!**

**Yes, I know I haven't updated for aaaaaaagges but I had some real trouble coming up with ideas for this one. That, and I have some pretty important exams coming up soon, so I need to revise as much as possible.**

**ANYway, here's chapter four! There's been a tiny bit of a timeskip, but that's just to move the story on a bit. A warning to future chapters: I may randomly timeskip without warning, but that's just because I have a laaarge timescale to cover in this fanfic.**

**Anyway, hope you like it ^^**

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The professor stepped through the front door, arms full of new food supplies. He smiled when he saw me.

"Look, Rin! Now I can teach you to make even more food!"

That sounded like a good idea. The professor often let me help make dinner with him, although he was the only one who actually ate.

He dropped the bags in the small kitchen area and it went everywhere. He hadn't noticed. Instead, he was crossing the room to another bag he had brought home with him. Since he was distracted, I tidied up the food and put it away in all the right places. The professor put the extra bag on the table in front of the television, then came back over to me. I watched as he opened up a book of recipes.

"This one!" he said with a boyish grin.

I studied the ingredients list and the method to make it, then went right on to preparing. I collected everything I needed to make it, and then helped the professor actually make the food. He talked to me as we worked. He told me about all his favourite foods and how he can never seem to make them right by himself.

At that moment, I noticed a terrible mistake that he had made.

"Professor, what is this?"

"Rice," he replied. "You know what that is. We need it for the recipe."

"It's the wrong rice."

"What?"

"It's the wrong rice," I repeated.

"B-but look, it says 'rice', doesn't it? Right there."

I looked at him. He had a strange look on his face.

"It says 'pudding rice', Professor."

"What? No it-"

He stopped short and looked closer. After a moment, he hung his head.

"Ahh, I'm a failure of a cook..." He said in a strange, spaced-out kind of voice.

I sighed, but merely out of habit, since I had no real need to. Luckily, I found a small amount of leftover white rice in the cupboard, barely enough for one person but we had to make do. The end product was not exactly what was desired, but it was edible, so the professor ate it.

When he had finished, he picked up the bag that was sitting in the table.

"Look, Rin," he said, pulling out a mysterious object, "I got this for you!"

The object was a brown pot, filled with a strange dark... something. There was something small and green sticking out from the dark matter.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's a plant," he replied. "See? That's the shoot."

"What is the dark matter?"

He chuckled at my response.

"It's soil. The plant needs it to grow."

I looked closer at this 'plant'. It didn't seem particularly interesting, or significant.

"What is it for?"

The professor gave me a strange look for a moment, until he understood what I meant.

"I thought that having something to work towards, like growing the plant, will be a nice idea."

"But why is it important?"

"Well..." He trailed off for a moment, deep in thought. "I know it's small and may not mean much right now, but I think that, after looking after it, it will grow into something beautiful."

I did not understand how such a small thing could become beautiful. I had no idea how it could be possible. However, if it was going to grow, I wanted to see it.

The professor poured a bit of water into the pot from the tap, then put it on the windowsill. I watched him walk into the lab, then turned away. I walked up to the plant and looked at it. I stood there for a while, then crouched down to its level, keeping an eye on it. The professor came back out after a while, and saw me staring at the plant. When he asked me what I was doing, I told him that I thought the plant was broken. He didn't understand, so I told him that the plant wasn't growing. This made him smile, and he said, "Things like this take a while to grow. You can't see it happen in front of you, but you can see the diffenence over a long period of time."

I told myself that I would never understand why things were so complicated.

We carried on around the apartment as normal – cleaning, running tests, etc. – but every so often I would look over to the pot on the windowsill, to find that there was still no difference. We were in the lab, and the professor was checking yet again to see if my systems were working probably (he still wasn't sure how it had worked), when he looked up at me with a strange look.

"What are you doing, Rin?" he asked.

"Standing."

"No, you're… are you singing?"

It then occurred to me that I had been singing to myself without knowing it. I nodded. He kept looking at me, frozen, as if trying to work something out.

"Sing some more," he told me.

So I did. I sang the first song I had learned to sing, from the video of that woman on stage. He sat back and listened, and when I was finished, I noticed that his eyes looked watery. He smiled.

"That was lovely, Rin."

However, although he was smiling, he had a slightly different smile from usual on his face. I couldn't decipher it.

I told him that I had learned that song while he was away.

"Do you like singing, Professor?"

He nodded, but didn't day anything. I expected him to show me his singing, but he didn't. Instead, he carried on with the tests from before. As he did, I carried on singing softly.

* * *

**So there you go!**

**There's a lot of dialogue, I know :P**

**I wasn't sure what to do for this chapter, but I felt like I had to upload what I've got because I've been taking so long and I'm just not quite sure what more to put in this one.**

**Again, the idea of the plant I got from another video, so it isn't mine, but I'm changing it a bit.**

**Sorry if the next one takes a while too .**

**R&R please? :3**

**Thank you all for reading so far ^^**


	5. Chapter 5: The Second Miracle

**Me again guys!**

**Sorry it's been a while, I've had various exams to revise for in the last month or so, but I'm all done now! So I may have been a bit slow in the writing, but I do have good reasons.**

**BUT ANYWAY here is chapter five, and finally the plot is starting to take shape! (kind of)**

* * *

I'd gotten used to singing around the professor. He liked it, I was sure of it. It made him look happy. I knew that happy was good. I would sing while we made dinner, while he was on his computer, or just to pass the time. He would never interrupt, just listened.

I would also spend my time searching for new songs to sing. There were all sorts of songs out there that I could try. Every time I found a new one, I would sing and sing until I knew it very well. Not all songs sounded quite right with my voice, so sometimes, finding the songs was quite hard.

It had been about a year since I first woke up. The professor had told me I didn't constantly need to keep track of the exact time, so I don't, but if I did, it would have been one year, two weeks and five days. I didn't know if that was a long time or not, but the professor was still surprised I was still functioning after all this time. After all, he had said he was sure he'd made many mistakes. He'd told me that so far, he has experienced two miracles, because of me. I did not understand the concept of miracles. Good things happen, and bad things happen. That's just the way it is. I knew that the definition of "miracle" was "a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment." Even so, even if such an accomplishment is achieved, how did that make it a miracle? Maybe it was just too much for a robot like me to understand.

On this day, the professor had just come back from the market with more food and supplies that he needed, to find me once again looking for more songs. He chuckled when he saw me almost glued to the screen.

"Found any nice new ones?" he asked as he came up behind me, and put a hand on my shoulder.

I nodded, and pressed 'play' on the video I had before me. The music started, and I sang along to the voice in the track. I was still not completely familiar with all the lyrics, so I was singing quietly, stopping at the lines I did not know, and picking it up again when I did know the words.

When I was done, I said, "I think this one sounds nicest."

I turned round to look at the professor, who once again had a faraway look on his face. He did that every so often. After a second he shook himself out of his trance and smiled.

"Yes. That is a nice song. It's one of… one of my favourites."

I knew that 'favourite' was a good thing, so I decided that I would keep practising this one. I spent hours to try and get it perfect. It took a while, but I eventually learned all the words and the correct tune.

Later, I showed the professor that I had learned the whole song. I sang as well as I could, to make sure it sounded perfect, since it was one of his favourites. He smiled slightly as he listened, but there seemed to be something missing from his smile.

"What's the matter, Professor?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing. It's nothing, really…"

He trailed off and looked at me. He looked somewhat troubled, but didn't seem to want to tell me why. I didn't understand why, though.

"Are you sure?"

It took him a moment to answer, but after a moment he said, "Yes, I'm sure."

Without further conversation, he stood from the sofa where he'd been sitting and went to get ready for bed. His behaviour was unfamiliar to me.

After a few moments, I went over to the side of the room, where my plant sat. The shoot had grown so much that we had to move it onto the floor. It wasn't very green anymore, either. It was brown and hard. It seemed as though it was going to grow into a tree, but it was still too early in its life to do so. There was still a lot missing.

Eventually, after much staring at and contemplating over my plant, I went and sat in the lab, where I would go and sit in a sort of 'standby' mode, to save power. As I sat here, my 'mind' wandered, and I thought about a lot of things; the plant, the songs, the professor, and all the time we have spent together.

After a while, I sensed that morning had come, so I started my systems back up again, stood, checked everything was running properly like I always did, and went out of the lab. The professor was already awake and eating breakfast. His strange mood from last night seemed to have subsided, but not fully. He looked up at me and smiled.

"Morning, Rin!"

"Good morning, Professor."

For a moment, he had that strange look on his face that he wore when I spoke to him in this way sometimes, but it was gone again within seconds.

As usual, we started of our day with just talking to each other. The topic of our conversations was almost always trivial and with no significance that I could see, but he looked happy, and happy was good. The, also as usual, the professor and I did different things. I went straight to the computer to see the songs again. This routine seemed to get very repetitive, but it was the best way that I could learn. I needed to learn the song that the professor loved. After a few hours, I had finally learned all of the words, and the correct tune. I planned to show the professor later that day.

'Later' came a lot sooner than I had expected. The professor had finished whatever he was doing quickly, so he came into the lab to see me. I turned to him, and without another word, I sang. I sang the song that he loved so much. He stood there, listening, taken aback at first, but after a moment or two, he closed his eyes and just listened. I noticed, during my singing, that a tear was running down his cheek. However, he was also frowning, ever so slightly. When I finished, he didn't move. He stood there, eyes closed, slight frown on his brow.

"How was it?" I asked. "Was it good?"

He said nothing for a moment, but after a while he opened his eyes and said, "Yes, it was brilliant, Rin…"

He smiled at me. He was happy. I knew that that was good.

The conversation seemed to be over, so I went out of the lab to find something else to. The first place I went to was the bookcase. I had long since finished the Story of Evil series, and now I wanted to find something new to read. I pulled out one called "The Near Future City" and started to read. It was a book in four parts, so I decided that I would read only one part at a time.

Once I had finished the first part, 'Hologram', it was well into the afternoon. It occurred to me that the professor had not come out for his midday meal. I stood and looked into the lab, where I found him hunched over his table of papers, drawing something, labelling, annotating. He was quietly muttering to himself. I walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. He had already used up several sheets of paper with whatever it was he was doing, some of which had been screwed up into balls where he had probably made mistakes.

"What are you doing, Professor?"

He jumped at the sound of my voice.

"Oh, hey there, Rin! I didn't hear you come in!"

I just stood there and looked him, not knowing how to respond. He continued.

"I'm, er, planning. There's something I think I need to make."

"What is it?"

He put down his pencil and turned to me. "I have realised something. I realised it when you sang for me earlier. I felt that… there was no… _emotion_ in the song. Don't get me wrong, the singing was lovely, but I couldn't feel any emotion. The only reason for that, I have realised now, that when I made you, I forgot something. Something is missing."

"If there is something missing, then how am I perfect?"

"What?"

"On the first day that I was functioning," I reminded him, "you said I was perfect."

He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well… I think at the time… I meant perfect in a slightly different way to that…"

A moment passed in silence, before I asked, "What is missing?"

"… A heart. A soul. Call it what you want… But I realised that one can't feel, or truly live, if one doesn't have a heart or soul…" he trailed off, then added, "I'm creating this program. I will call it… 'Kokoro'." He quickly turned back to his desk to write down this idea for the name. "But this will be my biggest project yet. It is more than likely that I will fail. You see, after all, you can't actually _make_ a soul… It's impossible. But I have to try. I have to…"

And with that, he turned back to his desk, fully engrossed with his planning once more.

I stayed where I was, watching him scribble away. I let my mind wander, thinking about what I had just learned.

There was still something missing,

Something that can't be made,

It was called 'Kokoro'…

A special program.

* * *

**And… GO! So the story is more or less off to a start now :D**

**Like I said, I apologise for it taking such a long time to write .**

**Also, I wanted to say that I have quite a large section of the story to fill up now, for the duration of making the Kokoro up until the point where the professor dies (whoops sorry for the spoiler to people who don't know the song, but it does happen in like the second verse so it's like one of the first things to happen!) so if you have any suggestions of things that go on, please do tell! I have a lot of time (and timeskips) to fill, so yeah suggestions will be gladly accepted ^^**

**Thank you to everyone who has been reading, I appreciate it :)**

**Ttfn 3**


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